Growing up in New York
by 123montana321
Summary: This is the companion piece to Meeting in New York.  Danny grew up with a friend, and his friend travels with him on the journey Danny has with Lindsay.  Rated T since it gets a little raunchy in the humor.


**Warning. In an attempt to take on a man's POV, the jokes are a little raunchy. But, I do not think you guys will mind.**

**Not What it Feels like**

Danny had a friend he'd known all his life. At least once a month they got together for drinks and pool. One morning Van called Danny.

"Hey, man. Missed you last night."  
Danny, on the way to a crime scene, slapped his hand against his forehead. "Sorry. Something came up."

"And you couldn't remember a man in need of his buddy's pool table. Unless, of course you were getting up in a particular kind of way. Or getting down, depending on how you say it." After a pause, Van laughed. "I see. I know this girl, assuming it was a girl?"

"Of course it was a girl," he sighed, he hadn't intended to say anything so soon. "And maybe."

"Montana, right. You scored in Montana."

"Your mamma got any soap?" Danny asked, and cast a worried glance toward Lindsay. Not that she could hear. It would be a long time before she met Van.

* * *

**That Cold Feeling**

"So, Danno," Van said as he walked around the pool table with his cue. He eyed the balls on the table. "Been in Montana recently?"

For a moment Danny was quiet. "You know, that's not as funny as you think it is."

"Could be, but I think maybe she means more than you said. And I think maybe it's not going well."

"She stood me up."

Van frowned. "Did you tell you why?"

"It was the its not you, its me speech." Danny was sad. "But I think its more and she does not trust me enough to say anything."

"You want to go out, find some girls?"

Danny looked up and there was something in his eyes that had not been there before. "No, not this time."

* * *

**Silent**

Van found Danny sitting in a bar they had been in too many times to count.

"Danny-boy, maybe you should go home."

"I'm not drunk, Van. I just know if I'm going to walk out that door, I'm going to go to her place."

"You have a reason?"

"She's just a little lost."

"Than why do not you go find her."

"Because I'm not what she thinks she needs."

Van shook his head. "Then maybe you should show her."

"How."

"you'll figure it out."

* * *

**Finally in Hand**

Danny was caught up kissing Montana. Kissing Montana in Montana. Kissing Montana in a wheat field in Montana.

It was just luck, or fate, that Van called just at the moment Danny came up for air. As he smiled at Lindsay, he heard his phone. He answered his phone when he saw it was Van.

"Hey, man. You forget out pool game again."

"Sorry, I pulled a double."

"Where are you, then."

"In Montana."

"Whoa! That's too much information, man." Van waited a beat. "But its about time."

* * *

**Hospital Visit caused by a Snow Day**

Van walked into Danny's hospital room as his parents and brother walked out. Danny looked around. He seemed distressed.

"What's wrong, Danny?" Van asked. "You need me to get a doctor?"

"No. Montana slipped out. Did you see her?"

"No, but if I saw your mother coming, I would slip out too."

"Find her for me."

Van shook his head. "You are so stuck Messer."

"Maybe I want to be."

* * *

**Under the Water**

Van opened his door, surprised to see Danny on the other side. He hadn't been able to reach his friend for weeks now. He knew it was because Danny was blaming himself.

However, he did not like the look on Danny's face.

"What happened?"

"I lost her."

"Lost who?"

"Montana."

Van sighed. "How can you lose a girl who is so totally into you." At the look on Danny's face, Van frowned. "With who?"

"His mother."

"You feel better."

"No, but it wasn't about making me feel better. It wasn't about anything."

"You know what you are going to do."

"No," Danny dropped down on Van's sofa. "But not that, not his mother. Not again."

"At least you know that much."

* * *

**Its Personal**

"I told her I was sorry."

"And you thought she should come to you?" Van asked. He had never felt like the smarter one in the friendship, but suddenly, he wondered if Messer was as smart as he'd believed. "You want to be in Montana, Danny, you are going to have to go to Montana."

"She didn't go home, not that way."

"No, I mean you need to go to her. Get your tail out of that dark apartment, and find her.

When Van didn't hear back from Danny, he figured Danny had somehow gotten himself to Montana. And hopefully found himself in Montana.

The thought made him grin.

* * *

**Sex, Lies and … Sex**

Van and Danny had talked earlier in the week, so he knew Danny was working. Or he thought Danny was at work when he arrived at his apartment to pick up the box he'd promised Danny he would deliver. He was halfway to the kitchen area when he heard the whimper and then an outright cry.

And then the deep guttural sound of a male letting it all out.

And the sounds of sex on a bed, and old bed like the one you got from your grandmother. Van sure hoped Danny didn't think of his grandmother when he was using the bed in such enthusiastic ways. He smiled a little, and hurried out. He didn't know you could hear someone having sex in Montana all the way in New York.

It must be some good sex.

* * *

**Not Enough**

Van met Danny at the bar. He found his friend with a beer at the bar. "What's up."

"I do not know. Lindsay's just avoiding me."

"As in you think she's seeing someone else."

"No, as in I think she doesn't want to see me."

"Have you talked to her?"

"Not about this," Danny said. "I do not know that I want the answer."

"Look. You finally let me met Lindsay and I do not think she's one to play a game. Maybe she just needs time to settle. Its been a rough year for you both."

* * *

**Opened Box**

Van answered his phone. "What up?"

"Lindsay's pregnant."

The news his Van. He stopped walking and tried to think it through. He really couldn't think it through. "What do you think."

"I think?" But Danny's voice carried off somewhere. And Van knew, Danny was lost. In love with more than one person now. A woman and a baby.

"I'm going to ask her to marry me."

"You think she'll say yes?"

"I think Lindsay isn't the kind of girl to have a baby and not be married."

"That's not a good answer."

* * *

**Mixed Signals**

"She said no."

"To asking her to marry you?" Van asked. "Did you tell her you loved her first?"

"She wouldn't have believed me."

"Then why did you think she would marry you?" Van shook his head. "maybe you should step back a step or two."

* * *

**The Point Past No Return**

Danny opened the door to Van. "Come in."

"Well, at least you haven't shriveled up to nothing," Van said as he walked in. "She make it ok to Montana?"

"yeah." Van turned around, saw Danny staring down at his left hand. He saw the ring.

"That's a ring."

Danny looked up and grinned. "Yeah."

Van nodded. "I guess we're grownups now."

"You got a girl I do not know about?"

"No, but you are not growing up without me. And neither is that kid you are having."


End file.
